We, Sri Lankans have always counted ourselves lucky given that we’ve never had to bear the brunt of highly extreme weather conditions such as hurricanes, snowstorms or even volcanic eruptions. The 2004 tsunami, still vivid in our minds, was testimony to how bad it can get when mother nature strikes back. However, without doubt, it can be said that the worst is yet to come. Global temperatures reaching record highs, rising sea levels, large scale forest fires, extreme weather conditions sweeping across the world are the signs of the growing issue of climate change. The flash floods and heavy landslides in the Rathnapura in May 2017 which saw 600,000 people displaced was a daunting reminder that our country too was no exception to this global problem.
Climate change is defined as the change in global or regional climate patterns. Factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth and certain human activities have been identified as primary causes of ongoing climate change, often referred to as global warming. The issue of global warming has created a misconception by many that this would only lead to an overall increase in global temperatures. On the contrary, it has been identified that an atmosphere changed by rising levels of gases like carbon and methane leads to more climate changes than just warming. It should be note that while possibly one side of the world may face harsher and unstable cold winters, another may face record high droughts and wildfires. Furthermore, islands such as our own country may soon have to deal with the gruesome reality of rising sea levels which islands such as Maldives face the risk of being completely submerged by these rising waters.
What do we do about it?
The fight against climate change is twofold. First being the reduction of carbon emissions emitted to the atmosphere. This is achieved through the replacement of fossil fuels with clean energy sources, responsible consumption & recycling and use of sustainable transportation and infrastructure. These activities would be carried out targeting carbon neutrality which refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions. Financing and subsidizing clean energy producers along with green products would certainly be a favorable step towards curbing the copious amounts of carbon currently being emitted.
The second being reforestation/afforestation along with sustainable agriculture and forest management. This plays the important role of absorbing the carbon emissions emitted and thereby plays a reverse effect upon global warming. Countries such as Bhutan have proven the effectiveness of this step by maintaining a 71% forest cover enabling it to achieve a step more than just carbon neutral but rather carbon negative.
An uphill task
Despite the overwhelming proof of climate change and global warming, skeptism and the lack of awareness regarding this issue still remains at large among the global community. June 1st,2017 saw one of the greatest setbacks to the global fight against climate change when US President Donald Trump made the decision to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change Mitigation. In the backdrop of growing international collaboration on combatting climate change, this unprecedented move created a wave of doubt and ambiguity regarding the effectiveness of the deal. In the wake of such non commitment and inaction to the cause, especially as seen during the large scale forest fires in the amazon, the younger generation have taken it upon themselves to pick up on the slack. The global climate strike of March 15th inspired by the actions of the Swedish schoolgirl, Greta Thunberg, saw 1.4 million students across 2000 cities in the world taking the issues to the streets , reminding the global community its real priorities and to work towards a sustainable world where this threat is mitigated.
The politicization of this issue is apparent, even to the extent that many organizations have been unwilling to address the issue over the fear of being perceived as taking a political stand. Until the recent past, Rotary International too faced this dilemma. Being a well renowned organization which was instrumental in many global endeavors such as the eradication of polio, its lack of climate change advocacy was notable. While much of the group’s work is affected by global warming — including disaster recovery and poverty assistance — past efforts to confront climate change have been stymied by the organization’s tradition of leaving politics at the door. This April marked a resounding shift in this policy when RI President 2018/2019 Barry Rassin made his views clear on what Rotary’s approach to climate change is on The Rotarian Magazine. He declared the group had a moral obligation to talk more about climate change.
“With polio, people say, ‘OK, that’s just health care.’ But when you start talking about the environment, people ask if it’s political,” President Rassin said “I’m not talking politics; I’m talking about our world and how to make it a better place.”.
He further iterated on how his home country, the Bahamas is at threat due to this issue and how this issue is almost personal given what is at stake right now. Given the organization’s success through out the globe, this revolutionary stand taken would certainly advance the global combatting of climate change.
Underestimation, lack of priority and thereby inaction remains the cause by which we suffered then and perhaps may remain the reason why we would continue to suffer yet again. Climate change by no means is a distant threat to be addressed later. Icebergs melting at record numbers, global temperatures reaching record highs are by no means threats to be put off to be resolved for the future. The noose is getting tighter on mother earth and if we don’t act now, there is no way out of this chokehold.
Rtr. Asel Gunaratne
Editor
Editor